Nothing is as Simple as We Hope it Will Be
Summary: HPxStargate Atlantis crossover. After the replicators have damaged Atlantis, and the crew is continuing out into deep space John must do everything in his powers to stay alive, even if does mean using magic again. not season 4 compliant.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter characters or original world ideas Nor do I own Stargate characters or original world ideas. The plot for this story however is mine.
Chapter Six: Lost and Found
John spent the next few moments after Griphook had mentioned that he had a child trying to do his best not to hyperventilate. How could no one have tried to find him and tell him. Ginny had gone through with the pregnancy. Had he really done such a wonderful job of shutting himself off from the wizarding world that he had never gotten any wind of this? It was seven years, surely the child had wanted to meet him, or Ginny wanted the child to meet him...unless. Unless Ginny had started to see someone else.
She could have easily found someone to fill the role of father for the child. "I..." John started out, trying to find the right words. "I have to go home." He finished. The family tapestry was at home, Ginny's name was still on it. It would show him if she had remarried and what his child's name was. Maybe he would even get up the nerve to seek them out. But did he even deserve to see his child? Ginny had left him, but he could have stuck around to see whether Ginny would need help with the child.
John turned to Rodney. "We can come back and shop tomorrow." John said quickly as he piled some galleons into a small bag had had drawn from his pocket. Rodney just watched worriedly as his friend frantically moved around the insides of the vault. "Come on Rodney, let's go." John said as he quickly walked back to the cart in front of Griphook and Rodney.
Rodney almost opened his mouth to complain about having to get back in the damn cart but noticed how shaken John was by the news, and carefully kept his mouth quite. "Just try and go slower." Rodney said to the goblin as he climbed into the cart besides John.
"There is only one speed." The goblin replied.
Ginny Weasley sat inside the Burrow at the kitchen table, a hot mug of tea cradled in one of her hands as her quill scratched the parchment that was in front of her. Her beautiful little girl sitting across from her at the table, swing her legs back and forth as she watched her mother impatiently.
"Are you done yet, Mum?" The little girl asked restlessly as she jumped off of her chair and came around the table to stand at her mother's side.
"Almost, Evelyn," was Ginny's reply as she quickly finished writing out her list. She turned to look at her little girl. Evelyn was seven going on eight. Her curly red hair was pulled back into two equally large pigtails and she had Harry's eyes. Looking down into her baby girl's eyes always made Ginny's heart tug just a bit for the man that she used to love. Placing a small kiss on the top of Evelyn's head she passed over the piece of parchment along with a few pound notes. "Now, run down the road to the grocery with Roxanne and get everything on the list."
"Alright." Evelyn said as she took the money and note from her mother and stuck it in a small pouch she had hung around her neck. She gave her mother one quick smile before turning and running to the stairs yelling, "Roxanne! Roxanne!!! Mum says it's time to go!!" The little girl yelled enthusiastically as the older fifteen year old came down the stairs.
"I'm coming. Geez. Keep your pants on." said George's daughter as she stuck out her tongue at her cousin. "Hi, Auntie G."
"Roxanne." Ginny greeted in reply as she watched in amusement as he daughter practically pounced up and down at her cousin's side. "Just the usual trip down to the grocery. Make sure your back in time so that we can get everything cooking for tomorrows party."
"Alright, Auntie. Come on, squirt!" Roxanne called as she ran out the door before Evelyn was able to catch her.
"Bye, mum!" Evelyn called over her shoulder as she raced to catch up with her cousin, her emerald green eyes sparkling with delight.
Evelyn and Roxanne had run down the road until they had been out of breath and had to slow to a walk as they neared the grocery. "I don't understand why we have a party every year this month." Evelyn said as she looked down at the road as she walked across it. "There aren't any birthdays or holiday's this month."
Roxanne looked over at the younger red head and sighed. "Don't you listen to any of the grown-ups talk about the old war?"
"No. That's boring." Evelyn said as she kicked a stone down the road.
"Well tomorrow is the day the war ended." Roxanne explained to her cousin as they rounded the corner to the grocery shop.
"Oh." The little girl said as they walked along the side of the grocery store. "So they celebrate that they won?"
"And remembering the people who died." Roxanne said as they entered the store. "Now, what did Auntie G want us to get?"
"Let's see." Evelyn said as she reached into her pouch and pulled out her mother's list.
It didn't take the two girls long to find what Ginny had sent them to get and they had snuck two pieces of candy into their shopping cart along with the other groceries. They payed and had everything bagged up and started their way back home so that they could get some lunch.
"I hope mommy makes lots of cookies." Evelyn said, day dreaming about the deserts that she fully expected tomorrow.
Roxanne snickered. "I'm sure she will."
"And cake." Evelyn added on as she began to skip down the country road that lead the way back to the Burrow, swing her rather light bag.
"Hey, be careful with that. You're carrying the eggs!" Roxanne admonished as she watched Evelyn swing the bag around herself. "If you break..." Roxanne trailed off as she looked up the road. Walking down the road towards was a man in dark robes, obviously a wizard. "Evelyn." Roxanne said as she grabbed her cousin's hand, but continued to walk slowly towards the wizard.
Roxanne had never seen him before, he could simply be someone that had been invited over for tomorrow, or maybe not. Roxanne remembered the stories that her parents and aunts and uncles had shared late in the evening when they thought all of the kids were asleep, or sleepy enough not to pay any mind to their conversation. But, Roxanne remembered them, the death eaters in the stories. Black robed wizards that did the bidding of you-know-who.
Nervously Roxanne continued to lead Evelyn up the street, only a few more feet and they would be passed the wizard, friendly or not. The wizard stared into Roxanne's eyes and Roxanne stared back, willing the older wizard to leave them alone, but it didn't work. As they got close enough the wizard's arm snapped out and grabbed Roxanne's upper arm and a cruel smile spread over the man's face.
"Let go." Roxanne demanded as she tightened her grip around Evelyn's hand.
"And what if I don't, Weasley." The man asked, practically hissing out the redhead's last name.
Roxanne paused for a moment realizing that the man was most definitely not on the invitation list for tomorrow. She drew back her foot and kicking the man as hard as she could in the shin. "Run." Roxanne shouted as she pulled Evelyn along with her down the street. "Drop the bags." Roxanne ordered as they began to run faster, their hands breaking apart.
Evelyn ran as fast as her shorted legs could carry her, but Roxanne was faster than she was. "Rox...anne" Evelyn panted out as she began to slow down. Roxanne looked over her shoulder.
"Evelyn!" She yelled as she saw that the man had begun to run after them, his wand drawn. "Keep running." Roxanne shouted as she ran back to drag her smaller cousin on.
"You thought you could get away you little twerps!" the man yelled as he began to catch up to them.
"Keep going." Roxanne shouted as she pulled on her cousin's hand again.
Evelyn nodded and began to go as fast as her weary feet could carry her, her own hand clasped strongly in Roxanne's.
"Stupefy!"
Evelyn felt Roxanne's hand slip out of her own and she stopped in horror as she looked down at her cousin, laying unconscious on the dirt road. "Roxanne?" Evelyn asked worriedly as she looked between the wizard and her cousin, fear clearly shown in her eyes.
The wizard laughed. "So you are Potter's prat."
Evelyn froze. He knew who her dad was. Her mum had told her to never tell anyone. It was suppose to be a secret. How did this bad man know? "What...what do you want?" Evelyn asked her voice shaking.
"You." the wizard said bluntly a sickly grin spreading over his face as he lunged forward and grabbed her.
"Let me go." Evelyn cried. Where was her father? Mum said he was a hero. He came and saved the day every day. Tears sprang to her eyes as the man's grip tightened. "Please let me go!"
"No way in hell, kid." The man said his feral grin widening as he watched her squirm.
"Let me go!!" Evelyn yelled as she scrunched closed her eyes pulled away as hard as she could. And then she wasn't there any more. A soft pop of apparation reached the wizard's ears and he cursed.
"Next time remind me to just stay in the lobby." Rodney said as he climbed unsteadily out of the cart.
"No way. You would cause to much trouble if left by yourself." John replied, although the playful feeling in his voice was missing.
"Hey, are you going to be okay?" Rodney asked worriedly as he follow John out of the bank and through the streets, he barely noticed the brightly colored shops around him as he followed his friend.
"I..." John paused. He was going to say he was fine, but he knew it wasn't true. "I will be fine. After I get everything straightened out." John said as he continued to walk on in a daze.
Then there was a sharp pop of someone apparating right in front of him, and John almost tripped over the little red headed girl that appeared before them. Her eyes were scrunched up tight and her arms tucked in closely to her body. Her pigtails were falling out, and she kept mutter. "Let go, let go." To herself.
John looked at the girl in surprise as he took in how young she was. Accidental magic was the only explanation for her sudden appearance. "I think whoever it was let go." John grumbled as he made to push pass the little girl, he had no time for this. That was until she opened her eyes to look up at him. They were his eyes, emerald green. Red hair and green eyes. It was too perfect for it to not be Ginny's little girl.
John stopped and stared down at the little girl in shock. He couldn't seem to wrap his mind around the possibility that this child was his. She looked at him, her green eyes filled with as much surprise as his own were, though for a different reason. "He's gone...but," the girl glanced around, "Diagon Alley. What am I doing here." She said more to herself than to John or Rodney. "How am I going to get home?" She cried to herself as she tried to remember which way the Leaky Cauldron was but it all looked the same to her. "And Roxanne. I have to tell mummy to get Roxanne!"
More tears filled the girls eyes, and John's heart broke. "Where..." John's voice cracked. He took a deep breath and continued, ignoring Rodney's confused stares, "Where's your mother?" He asked. How could he had left when he knew that there was a child of his growing within Ginny. He felt his eyes grow wet as he thought about what he had denied himself, but quickly blinked his tears away. He couldn't cry in self-pit here.
The girl looked up at him and seemed to finally acknowledge his presence. "Mummy's back at the burrow." The girl said her bottom lip trembling slightly.
"Ah. The Weasley's." John replied.
"Do you know how to get there?" The girl asked her eyes filling with hope. "There was a bad man, and me and Roxanne had to run, and then the man said 'stupiph-ie' at Roxanne and he grabbed me..and...and, I closed my eyes and ended up here.
"Well," John began before stopping. There was no way he was going to the burrow now would be a good idea, but if Roxanne was hurt... He thought for a moment and looked around the street. "Doesn't your uncle have a shop here?" He asked feigning ignorance. He didn't know why, but he felt that he couldn't tell this girl that he knew how to get to the burrow, like it would be intruding turning up there with this little girl in his arms.
"Yeah! Uncle George! He owns the joke shop. But where is that?" The girl asked as she looked up at John expectantly for directions.
John groaned to himself. He wanted to go with the child, it was his own daughter, but confronting the Weasley's in the state that he was, was not an option for him, and he knew it. But the girl seemed unwilling to let him go without running into at least one of her family members.
"Do you know this girl?" Rodney whispered into John's ear as he regarded the girl.
"I know her family. Red hair, hard to mistake." John replied as he held out his hand to the small girl. "Come on, let's go see if George can get you home and help make sure Roxanne is okay."
The girl hesitantly took John's hand and let her lead him down the street, Rodney following close behind. It did not take them long for them to get close enough to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes that Evelyn recognized it and ran ahead of John and Rodney into the store yelling "Uncle George, Uncle George!"
John entered the shop, Rodney entering close behind. The shop was full of young eager faces that were looking for the newest prank and Evelyn was weaving her way through them making her way towards the easily recognizable George that was standing towards the back of the room talking to one of his customers. Hearing his name George turned to the sound of his young niece running towards him.
John looked over George, he looked a lot older than the last time he had seen him. It was probably just the fact that his hair had begun to recede and he was beginning to look very much like his father when John had first meet him. John watched as the young girl reached her uncle and was ready to leave without even saying anything to George but then Evelyn blurted out the whole story to John in one quick breath.
"Uncle George! Me and Roxanne were attacked by an evil man. I accidentally apparated here, and these nice men helped me find your store. We have to save Roxanne!" The girl cried as she tugged on her uncle's arm.
George turned his full attention to the girl. "Wait, slow down, Roxanne and you were attacked?"
"Yes!" The girl exclaimed exasperated. "And then those nice men over there," she pointed, "helped me find you."
George's eyes lifted and meet John's and then his face froze. He recognized him.
John watched as George's pale face went from a pale worry to a boiling red rage and he knew he should have left the girl here and left without even coming in. 'Damn, damn, damn.' he muttered in the back of his mind as he watched George approach him.
"Hello, George." He said as calmly as he could as George reached him.
George however didn't seem quite as keen on being friendly. Before John could even react George has swung his fist as hard as he could into the side of John's face. "You bastard!" He yelled as he watched John stumble to the side.
Rodney's eyes went wide as he looked between the red head and his friend. This wasn't how friend's were suppose to greet each other was it?
"What the hell was that for." John asked as he stretched his jaw and glared up at the twin.
"That was for making Ginny cry."
A/N: another thanks to wolfie141 for the push in plot. Hope it worked out well and that everyone enjoyed this chapter. please let me know what you think.